


How to Bridge the Differences

by hmweasley



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Communication Failure, Gen, Pine4Pine 2020, Pining, Rejection, Wan Shi Tong's Library (Avatar), hunger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25951693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmweasley/pseuds/hmweasley
Summary: Zei doesn't regret staying in Wan Shi Tong's library, but after weeks there, he begins to feel isolated and longs for a connection with the spirit who is now the only real companion he has.
Relationships: Wan Shi Tong & Professor Zei
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14
Collections: pine4pine 2020





	How to Bridge the Differences

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Koraki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koraki/gifts).



Zei drank in the words on the page, frowning whenever he came across a word that had faded to nothing with age. Every so often, a slight breeze—perhaps stirred by Wan Shi Tong’s wings in another part of the library—blew sand across the pages, and Zei would brush the grains away without missing a beat.

He’d come to peace with the sand several months into his stay at Wan Shi Tong’s library. Tons of it had infiltrated the building when Wan Shi Tong buried it, and it had apparently become as permanent of a feature as Zei himself. While it had been an annoyance at first, it was no longer anything but reality, and it did nothing to dull Zei’s continued excitement over being in such an incredible place.

Despite his rapture with his current book, the movement of a dark figure in the periphery of his vision drew his attention upward. The figure was gone by the time Zei’s eyes focused on where they’d been standing, and Zei sighed. There was only one person in the library who it could have been. The Knowledge Seekers were smaller and didn’t run from him when spotted.

Knowing it was ill-advised, Zei closed his book, keeping his place marked with a finger, and tiptoed to the end of the shelf. There Wan Shi Tong stood with his back to Zei as he meandered down an aisle, his eyes scanning the books. Whether he was cataloging or searching for something specific, Zei couldn’t possibly know.

He wanted to ask. That was one thing he hadn’t been able to figure out yet: the library’s catalogue system. Whatever it was, it was different from the systems Zei had encountered in the human world, and he desperately wished to understand it. When he’d tried asking, Wan Shi Tong had snapped that the Knowledge Seekers could get him whatever he needed, and that had been that.

Wan Shi Tong disappeared around another shelf, and Zei exhaled. Backing up, he slid down the side of a shelf until he hit the floor. His book fell open in his lap, but his eyes remained on the place where Wan Shi Tong had disappeared.

Though he couldn’t see the spirit, he heard him ambling along the row of books and mumbling to himself. “That pesky human. Intent on staying where he doesn’t belong. Humans never care for reason. Otherwise, he’d be back where he belongs.”

The spirit had kept his distance from anyone but the Knowledge Seekers for so long that Zei wondered if he realized that Zei could hear him. It didn’t matter. Zei had no intention of pointing it out. He knew what might happen to him if he did. Wan Shi Tong had made it more than apparent that killing him wasn’t off the table, and Zei had an entire library to get through.

He glanced down at his book, which had been sucking him in completely before. His attention was drawn back to where Wan Shi Tong had disappeared. It was foolish, but Zei yearned to go after him.

Another breeze of sand whirled past, and Zei’s stomach twisted into knots. He was alone in the Spirit World with no other humans. Wan Shi Tong was the only one he could carry on a conversation with. That meant something to Zei, but he knew that Wan Shi Tong didn’t view it the same way. Zei would have to learn to accept that.

* * *

The growl of Zei’s stomach echoed through the halls of the library. He pressed a hand over it to stifle the sound as he turned a page in his current book. 

A sudden wind had him scrambling to hold the books’ pages down before he lost his place. His heart raced as Wan Shi Tong settled in front of him, leaning down with his pointed beak a mere inch from Zei’s face. Zei clutched the book to his chest like a shield.

“Can you stop that godforsaken sound?” Wan Shi Tong growled.

“S-sorry,” Zei stuttered. “I’ve run out of rations. There’s nothing left for me to eat.”

Wan Shi Tong stared down at him, his large eyes unblinking.

“Humans,” he muttered in disgust. “You shouldn’t have stayed here.”

Zei shook his head, clutching the book even tighter to his chest.

“No,” he said earnestly. “I did what I needed to, and I don’t regret it. I’ll starve if I must, but at least I’ll do it surrounded by more knowledge than I ever could have known otherwise.”

More staring. Zei gulped as he tried to keep his composure. Wan Shi Tong’s form was intimidating but also captivating in a way that Zei scarcely wanted to admit to himself, let alone to the spirit. His eyes held more knowledge than Zei could hope to retain even if he read every book in the library.

With a quick wave of Wan Shi Tong’s wings, more food appeared in front of Zei than he could eat in one meal no matter how hungry he was. His stomach growled again, and he was already salivating as he reached for a large bowl of rice.

“Thank you,” Zei said, already in the process of shoveling food into his mouth.

But it was too late. Wan Shi Tong was gone.

* * *

Zei’s eyelids were heavy as he ambled through the library's stacks. His eyes scanned the books, wanting to read the titles on the spines as he passed them but too exhausted to do so. In a far back corner, tucked away from what little bustle the library had, was the coziest nook that Zei had been able to make for himself out of the goods in the library.

Unlit candles lined the space, and stacks of books that Zei planned to read created something akin to a wall that separated the space off, though it hid next to nothing from view.

He had one blanket and one pillow brought to him by the Knowledge Seekers, but he’d refrained from asking for anything more. He wasn’t even sure where the foxes had gotten what they’d given him. Wan Shit Tong being as unwelcome to visitors as he was, Zei doubted there was a secret supply room that he hadn’t found yet.

It wasn’t comfortable by the standards of most humans. It was downright threadbare, yet Zei sighed when he saw it, having come to associate the space with rest.

He all but collapsed onto the thin blanket, his eyes fluttering shut before he was on the ground. Something hard and pointy sent him jolting upright again. He frantically felt around on the blanket until his hand made contact with a book. 

Of course, the library was full of them. What else could it have been?

Zei went to place it on top of the nearest stack, assuming it had fallen, but then he caught sight of the cover. He remembered each of the books he’d placed in the stacks. He had even written them down to help him keep track of which he had read. The one in his hand wasn’t one he’d seen.

He held it closer, his eyes straining to read the title in the dim light from distant candles. His exhaustion was forgotten as the title stared back at him:

Communicating with Spirits: How to Bridge the Differences Between Our Worlds

Zei’s heart raced. He lowered the book, obscuring it with his hands in his lap as if holding it was embarrassing. His eyes flickered around, looking for signs of movement.

Had the book been the doing of the Knowledge Seekers? A gesture of friendship for the only human they’d had extended contact with in centuries? 

Or had Wan Shi Tong left it there in an attempt at forming some kind of relationship?

Zei’s stomach twisted at the thought, and his palms grew sweaty as he ran them over the cover of the book. There was no way he’d be able to sleep that night, even if his body sagged from exhaustion. He reached for a match and lit the nearest candle that was carefully balanced on a nearby stack of books.

In the light, he could see the golden color of the embossed title across the front. Zei ran his fingers over it reverently before flipping the pages open with just as much care.

He had some reading to do.


End file.
